One Hour Photo and Never Let Me Go‘s Mark Romanek has signed on to become original author Stephen King’s latest hate figure, with the horror heavyweight remaining hostile to the idea of a prequel to the movie adaptation he famously loathed.

The movie will be based on King’s original prologue, which was cut from the book before publication and is described by The Hollywood Reporter as telling “the origin story of the haunted hotel through the eyes of its first owner, Bob T Watson, a robber baron at the turn of the 20th Century.”

Romanek is an inspired choice, able to write deft genre films which put the affecting human element front and centre.

Basically, he’s one of those guys that can make a horror movie and have the newspapers give it five stars and describe it as a “psychological thriller.”